Aisha Buhari, NDE to empower 2,200 women in Lagos

Plans are underway by Mrs. Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to empower 2,200 unemployed women in Lagos State.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative in Lagos, Mrs. Buhari said while the NDE would train 200 of the women, her pet project, ‘Future Assured’, would train the remaining 2,000.

She explained that the women economic empowerment programme is significant because it addresses five goals of the Sustainable Development Goals such as goal one that addresses poverty reduction, goal two that addresses hunger, goal five that aim reducing gender, goal eight on jobs and economic growth.

Providing insight into the aim of the programme, the wife of the President added: “This empowerment programme is meant to enhance the economic power and the standard of our women and by extension, improve the lives of families as a whole. For the reason of emphasis, the thrust of this partnership is to get our women involved in activities that will enable them engage in profitable economic ventures and qualify them as good homemakers.”

Mrs. Bukhara, who donated mams kits to new mothers at the launch under the Future Assured programme, urged expectant mothers to always attend antenatal clinic and also make their children available for immunisation against killer diseases.

On his part, the Acting Director General of NDE, Kunle Obayan said the objective of the empowerment is to impart to the womenfolk, various environment-specific and quick income yielding vocational skills set that will empower them to step out quickly from the circle of mass unemployment and poverty.

“Our ultimate goal is to create a pool of female small scale business owners who will play an active role in our match towards a diversified Nigerian economy and indeed a new Nigeria,” he said